Ever since the start of our first lockdown, I have noticed a rise in the number of people Tweeting and posting things along the lines of ‘humans are the real virus’ or ‘Corona is… earths way of cleansing itself’. Though these come across as harmless jokes at first glance, a further look into the affect coronavirus is actually having on the world reveals a much more sinister picture.
Rooted in Nazism, eco-fascism is a hyper-nationalistic (Klein) ideology from the radical right which combines neo-fascism with environmentalism in order to justify marginalisation, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and mass genocide. It’s supporters blame the degradation of our environment on overpopulation, immigration, refugees and POC and suggests genocidal solutions to environmental problems. While people on the right are usually the climate deniers, eco-fascist are using climate change to justify a new (old) world order.
Even before coronavirus, eco-fascism was on the rise with the El Paso shooter and the Christchurch massacre both being associated with it (The Washington Post). Yet, coronavirus has opened up a whole new (largely online) space to be filled with fascist sentiments.
Due to systemic health and social inequalities, it is no surprise that coronavirus is having a larger impact (infection and death-rate wise) on those who are the most poor and vulnerable in society . This includes ethnic minorities, women, those who have socio-economic disadvantages, and disabled people. Coronavirus hasn’t just affected these people the most, but it has exacerbated the existing inequalities that they live under. Therefore to suggest that covid-19 is some kind of ‘vaccine to cleanse us’ is to, once again, blame the poor and vulnerable for the problems of the rich.
The irony is that the people who are dying from it- the poorest and most vulnerable in the world- are actually those who produce the least amount of emissions. 50% of the world’s emission come from just 10% of people. Additionally, if coronavirus did completely wipe out the poorest half of the world (3.5 billion people), global emission would only drop by 10% (Global Justice Now). Klein comments that when we turn the climate change discussion to ‘overpopulation, we’re changing the subject from unsustainable consumption of the rich to the procreation habits of the poor, and that’s a very political decision’.
This highlights how important it is to be precise with our language and how quickly a simple joke can turn into fascist logic (Klein). Coronavirus has undoubtedly fuelled and created a new space for ecofascist to exploit and further blame the poor for societal issues. We must be aware of how easy it is for far-right narratives to infiltrate our everyday language because of social media, and develop our digital literacy to overcome this.
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